Casey Fox
INSC 571
Nonfiction Critique
Spring 2015
Hoose, Phillip. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. New York: Farrar Straus
Giroux, 2009. Ages 10 and up.
Phillip Hoose’s much-lauded 2009 book Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward
Justice is part biography and part oral history of the Civil Rights Movement in 1950s
Montgomery, Alabama. At the center is Claudette Colvin: a teenager who stood up to
Montgomery’s Jim Crow bus segregation a year before Rosa Parks did, but was
sidelined because she was not the “ideal” face for the Civil Rights battle.
While Colvin languished in obscurity for fifty years, Claudette Colvin: Twice
Toward Justice’s cover places her front-and-center, as she will be throughout the
book. A portrait of Colvin at thirteen years old looks out at the reader from a bright
yellow background of newspaper clippings and other ephemera from Jim Crow
Alabama, signaling that the book will be about the Civil Rights Movement, whether
or not one recognizes Colvin’s name or face. The book is 133 pages long and, at 8.7”
by 9.3”, closer to the size of a picture book than a traditional hardcover nonfiction
title. There are photographs on nearly every page that help the reader betterunderstand the world of the Jim Crow South. Each photo has an informative caption
and helps to give a face to many individuals who were important to the Civil Rights
Movement and who played a role in Colvin’s story. In addition to illustrations, Hoose
uses helpful sidebars to both break up the text and to provide additional
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information in a non-intrusive manner. For example, on page 31 Hoose notes that
Colvin’s bus stopped at Court Square. In a sidebar on the same page, he explains the
wider significance of this location in Montgomery’s racial history, thus giving the
reader greater context without detracting from the primary story.
The biggest strength of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice is the fact that
Colvin tells much of the story in her own words. The book alternates between
traditional, omniscient narration and large sections of first-person storytelling by
Colvin herself. In his “Notes” at the end of the book, Hoose explains that these
sections came from a series of fourteen interviews he conducted with Colvin in
2007. Colvin’s strength and self-assurance shine through, and her account of her
extraordinary experiences in 1955 and 1956 weaves in and out of the more
mundane experiences of being a teenager—bullying, boys, self-confidence—in a
seamless fashion. The reader is given a full picture of her life at the time, not just the
parts of it that made her a Civil Rights icon.
Colvin’s narration tells about events and figures the reader may have heard
of, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
but does so through a teenager’s eyes. This is vital to the success of the book, as it
allows young readers to put themselves in Colvin’s place and connect with a fifteenyear-old who is frustrated by the actions of the adults in her world. While her
circumstances are extraordinary, Colvin’s anger and desire to make a difference will
be familiar to many young people, and her courage to not only defy white police
officers but to stand by her convictions to the detriment of her social standing will
inspire young readers.
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The sections written by Hoose supplement Colvin’s narration by fitting her
words into a linear account of the events in Montgomery in1955-56, by filling in
historical details and by providing context for her account. His writing is
informative and full of names and dates, yet always maintains a conversational tone.
It is clear from the book’s language and structure that Hoose never forgets he is
writing for a young audience, but he does not patronize potential readers by shying
away from subjects like racial violence, judicial injustice and teen pregnancy.
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice is meticulously researched, and an
extensive section of the book is devoted to notes and sources. In addition to multiple
interviews with Colvin herself, Hoose also spoke with prominent Civil Rights
attorney Fred Gray and several other individuals who experienced the events of the
book firsthand. During his research, Hoose also consulted many books, periodicals
and online sources, which he lists and discusses in an annotated bibliography. In
addition to the bibliography, Hoose also provides chapter-by-chapter footnotes, so
readers can access the sources of his quotations themselves if they so choose.
The book is historically accurate and succeeds in presenting the major
characters as individual human beings with many layers and motivations, rather
than stereotypes or one-dimensional personas. It reminds the reader that the
American Civil Rights Movement owed its success to a huge number of brave
individuals, many of whose names are not necessarily remembered. Claudette
Colvine: Twice Toward Justice helps to bring attention to a lesser-known hero of the
Movement and successfully gives Claudette Colvin a place as an important figure in
the fight against Jim Crow in the American South. Clearly presented, age-appropriate
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and thoroughly researched, the book is a fine example of how to craft a nonfiction
work on a serious subject that is still appropriate for young readers. The critical
community at-large seemed to agree with this assessment, as received the National
Book Award for Young People’s Literature, a Newbery Honor and a Sibert Honor. It
was also nominated for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young
Adults, a Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award and a Cybils Award for
Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction, in addition to being named an ALA Notable
Children’s Book for Older Readers and a School Library Journal Best Book of 2009.
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice is both informative and captivating,
and would be an appropriate source for a school project. It would also be just as
successful as an engrossing read for a young person who wants to know more about
the Civil Rights Movement, the 20th Century American South or a teenager who took
a risk for something she believed in.